Danny ChaiSo while I was in Korea, I was on the lookout for the hip new trend in Korean food. You know, these random Korean food trends that seem to go in waves here in the U.S. About 15 years ago there was the soon tofu thing. A while back the whole dduk bo sam thing went through L.A. There’s the tart yogurt craze now.
I couldn’t discern any trends at all while I was there. Maybe wine. They suddenly got super into wine in the past 5 years. Wine bars and ads for wine are all over the place, especially the hipper areas. Or it might be dessert waffles – waffles with like ice cream and other assorted sweetness on it. They were serving that at many places as well (including Red Mango). But yeah, not totally sure what’s currently hip.
Foods I liked in Korea: (SN. We discovered almost all of these thanks to Ann. She was great.)
Fried chicken. OK, maybe this is the hip new trend. I remember going to fried chicken places in ’95, but it’s seemingly exploded in the past few years; there are many fried chicken chains that seem to have a franchise every few blocks. Nathan mentioned how he loved Kyo Chon when he went, and we got that multiple times. Delicious. We also loved B.B.Q. Chicken. Different styles – the first is a little plainer with a subtle taste in the skin, the latter is more sauce based. Both delicious. And the radish they serve with it is also uniquely tasty.
This trend’s already hit the U.S. Esquire recently did a survey of the best wings in America and the winner was this Korean place in Manhattan (Bon Chon). Based on the picture, that seems Kyo Chon style. And I love 99 Chicken in Santa Clara. Love. That’s kind of more B.B.Q. Chicken style. No one cares.
Hanwoo beef. As you may or may not know, Koreans are extremely prejudiced against American beef. Part of it is related to some ridiculous political things that happened some time back. In general, there’s a widespread belief that the beef America exports to Korea sucks, quality wise. Our expat American friends know it’s ridiculous… but they avoid American beef anyway. Australian beef is apparently a popular alternative.
The most highly regarded beef is Hanwoo beef. I’ve been told that “Hanwoo” just means domestic. In any case, Koreans treat it kind of like the Korean version of Kobe beef. We went to a resort for a few days and area was known for its Hanwoo cattle, so we splurged on a meal of it. I’ve never had true Kobe beef, so no clue whether it compares, but it was pretty freaking good. Marbled, tender, and flavorful. They had a number of raw beef items on the menu to allow you to taste it in purity. We ordered the beef sushi. Bad idea. Pieces of meat that big are just impossible to chew through, no matter how good it is. (Now that I think about it, I think I got something similar in Vancouver on Road Trip II and had the same problem. I guess I never learn.) We ended up putting them on the grill, to the chagrin of our waitress. But yeah, pretty delicious meat.
Shabu shabu. We went to this random shabu shabu place near Jieun’s mom’s 수서 apartment and it was awesome. The shabu shabu was great. What’s better is what comes after – when the main stuff is mostly gone, they add more spices and (hand-pulled) noodles to the concentrated broth to make a delicious noodle soup. After serving that, they add rice, egg, sesame leaves and other ingredients to the dregs and make a rice porridge. It’s like a 3-course meal. Brilliant. Jieun and I loved it and ended up going a couple times.
Chicken Kalbi. Ann mentioned this to us. It’s not like in the States, where it’s kind of like chicken teriyaki. Each table has a big hot plate, and you choose stuff to mix in with the chicken, which is in a spicy marinade, and they cook it at your table. The mixins are things like different veggies, noodles, and rice cakes. We ordered it with mozzarella-filled 떡 (which I liked, others not so much). It was interesting. I liked it. Didn’t love it, not craving it. But I’d have it again for sure.
Milk Kiss. They sell this in the Korean markets here also, but I hadn’t really had it until the trip. I remember the first time I had Pinkberry, I thought, this tastes like the Korean yogurt drinks. Well imagine that same common yogurt taste in a carbonated soda. That’s Milk Kiss. Delicious. We drank this constantly during the trip.
Really, everything else. It’s just nice having multiple options for everything. Here, you’re stuck with whatever you can get. But there are tons of good naengmyun, jjajjangmyun, jook, and other places there. It’s awesome. I even loved the COEX mall food. The Japanese was fine. And I love the unique things. Like I got this omorice combo that included I think a breaded chicken cutlet stuffed with cheese, ham, and chestnut. Delicious.
Foods I Did Not Like in Korea:
The bulgogi burger at McDonald’s is not recommended. I’m not entirely certain the patties are meat. Decidedly different than the other burgers, and not the color of anything I associate with meat. Pretty gross all around.
Steff Hot Dog. It’s this random hotdog chain that’s inexplicably popular in Korea. I say inexplicably because it’s vile. You can see the menu at www.steffhotdog.com/. The “Chili” dog has ketchup, relish, onions, and corn. The Steff hotdog includes this random topping that I’ve yet to figure out even after eating it (sadly) twice. Corn flakes? KFC style batter flakes? Bacon? Unclear. But I think it made me sick.
B.B.Q. Chicken House Beer. So the whole fried chicken craze is all about chicken and beer. I had the chicken multiple times, but with beer just once. Big mistake. It came in a big, unlabeled, possibly used bottle. That should have set off a warning bell, but I ignored it. It tasted fine while drinking it, but that night I had the worst diarrhea I’ve had in years. Not good times. Bad times.